For years past many of the likes of Biya’s francophone dominated regime have denied the existence of the anglophone problem but History have proven them all wrong. The anglophone problem as it is commonly known has dominated the political agenda of Cameroon.
Tensions can be traced as far back as the pre- independence era. Cameroon a German colony was awarded to Britain and France by the treaty of Versailles. Britain and France split Cameroon into two spheres. (British Cameroons and French Cameroons).
On October 1st 1961, both Cameroons unified on the bases of equality as provided by the foumban constitutional conference.(Federal state). Later in may 1972 the federation was abolished, marking the turning point of the anglophone problem. The problem became glaring when Biya replaced unitary republic of Cameroon to LA republque du Cameroun, a name given to former French Cameroons before federation talks.
Since then anglophones have been agitating and boiling until November of 2016 where teachers and lawyers protested the use of French in English subsystem of education and the anglophone Saxon common law respectively. Later in that same year the general anglophone population joined the strike, and there was a shift from a mere protest to a civil disobedience.
Tensions soon heightened in October 1st 2017 when anglophones symbolically proclaimed the declaration of the restoration of their independent state of ambazonia. since then the anglophone
crisis have taken an ugly twist.
The military have carried out crackdowns, raids, curfews which have resulted to mass killings, villages razed such as kembong, kwakwa Bole, extortion, rapes and other atrocities. As a result of this, many anglophones have fled their homes for fear of the unknown and villages have been deserted.
It should be noted that since the crisis erupted anglophone regions have been heavily militarized, with armoured cars spotted everywhere. Also mass graves of civilians have been discovered in bushes as well as lifeless bodies.
How ever Armed separatist groups have emerged who have continued to clash with security forces and have taken hold of some areas like toko, menji , akwaya in the south west region.
Statistically, since the declaration of war by President Paul Biya, more than 1000 thousand people have been massacred ,5000 thousands unlawfully detain, 40000 thousands in refugee camps, and 100 in exile.As I write, Tensions are high in Ndian, meme manyu and labialem were security forces have been gunned down.
Terence Nyanga Manih
Scnc activist U.K.